[asjwood]

Following some negotiation with the Lady of the Manor, I was given permission to begin construction of a new semi permanent raceway in the Manor grounds.

Fortunately the garage is quite well suited to the task already having some carpet and not being completely overrun with clutter. Before the weather turns (really) cold again I'm planning to get an insulation kit for the garage door and some seals for the edges. Hopefully this should make it reasonably temperate.

Construction began with a simple softwood frame that is roughly 15 foot by 3.

I then covered this in some cheap chipboard loft floorboarding which extended the width to 4 feet by adding a foot of overhang.

I then covered that with some green felt baize from my favourite online tat bazaar and added some chequered flags to cover up all the clutter that is now cunningly hidden beneath. As a bonus the garage now appears considerably tidier.

I edged it with some UPVC strips that were kindly donated by Mt LeeT. I also fixed some white foam core board to the the garage walls to make it look a bit nicer.

Then came the fun bit of designing the track. The preliminarily design has yet to reach the required standards for FIA certification mainly due to a lack of run off on several of the fast corners. I think some elevation at the back of the circuit will help create a bit more space for that. I would also like to squeeze in a pit lane somewhere if I can I find room.

For the moment though this track is pretty fun and I am enjoying just being able to pop out to the garage and get a few laps in when the mood takes me.

Current track plan.

Although it's possibly a bit too crammed in I find it quite a nice mix of corner speeds. The single R2 after the power base is kind of fun as you can steal a lot of time by charging through it on the ragged edge. When it goes wrong though you end up barrelling end over end down the next straight, which certainly has some safety implications...

 

[DJ]

Brilliant, love the track (and your humour).

 

[scot_bike]

Love the layout ! Looks really interesting and fun. Great idea of the foamcore board and the edging (might have to nick that for my own setup

). Where did you get your checkered material btw ? I am needing to cover up all te stuff that I'm storing underneath.

 

[MrFlippant]

Ditto. Clever layout for the space.

 

[Minardi]

I like It asjwood ! I also have a track in the garage of about the same size I guess. I added some elevations to overcome some space issues, like adding a pitlane. (you can see a picture here) Mine goes partly under a part of the track. Separating powerbase from track could solve a lot too, than you can have a longer straight at the start and add a pitlane there.

 

[Martin Ball]

like the others, nice work.

You might want to check out Minardi's thread for another example of a relatively long thin track space. He solved the pit lane space issue by using elevation to run the track over the top of the pit buildings.

scot_bike - I picked up some cheap chequered flags off ebay

 

[Leet]

Al that looks absolutley amazing, clever use of the garage. Everyones a winner you get to race and your better half looks on at you in amazement as the garage looks clean and tidy.

Would you be able to lay your :HO track over the top, then you, Jombo and I could have a tri-event.....Something to think about.

 

[Julian_Boolean]

So when's the first race and are we all invited?

 

[marctownsend]

Very nice Al, looks a funny scale though, what is it? Be interesting to see if it takes off.

Not too sure about Lee's idea, I knew you lot were close...

 

[Keeto]

That is one sweet track Al.

"For the moment though this track is pretty fun and I am enjoying just being able to pop out to the garage and get a few laps in when the mood takes me." That's what us "trackless" strive for, hey?

 

[asjwood]

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

scot_bike search for "chequered flag" on a well known auction site and there are plenty of choices. I went for some 5x3 foot ones.

I think something similar to your track Minardi would be a good solution to the elevation and pit lane. I'm going through a very busy patch at the moment though so further developments will have to wait a bit.

I have been considering HO options Lee, not come to any conclusions yet as to if I wish to lay it on top or build a separate foldaway layout instead.

Once I am happy it's all good for a race meet I will be having a grand opening. It will be interesting to see how many people can comfortably fit in there!

It's just a really small garage Marc, at least that's what I'll be telling Deane...

Yeah it's been a long time coming Keeto, it's been worth the wait though.

 

[mcmiko]

Great looking layout looks like alot of fun well done.

 

[montoya1]

QUOTE (asjwood @ 17 Jul 2012, 22:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It's just a really small garage Marc, at least that's what I'll be telling Deane...

Unfortunately my eyesight is still OK-ish, therefore I can see you have the potential for some club nights

The recent slew of garage tracks fits in with my overall plan for HO-UK perfectly

 

[asjwood]

You possibly misunderstood me Deane, I was joking that I would be telling you that the garage was actually really small and the cars in the pictures were actually HO cars rather than it being a normal sized garage with 1:32 cars.

There should be room for a good few people in there for racing once especially with the door open to make it less claustrophobic!

 

[Gareth]

Loving the track Al. I now know I definitely want chequered flag material covering my new table legs when we get moved. Have you been enjoying have a permanent track to play on? I know you are juggling a ton of things at the moment!!

Am I sensing from Deane there that he is interested in UK HO visiting some garage tracks or is this going to be a side avenue to the regular EAHORC route? I have to say, I'm very excited about the possibilities!

Excuse the photos Al but I visited our new house again today and finally made it into our garage which is where I'll be building my new track. A car in the garage was blocking me somewhat but I thought you all might like to see these as I hope to be hosting you all in the near future.

Back garden to garage entrance:

10' by 6' room in the garage which I'll be ripping out. This is where the large set of windows are in the picture above

I had to crane round the car and room but this is the other bit of garage behind the room.

We have another 18 by 8' to play with so I think track, air hockey table, pit space, darts and this unbelievably awful bar from the house will be able to co-exist!

Again, forgive the mild hijack Al!!

 

[montoya1]

Gareth - thanks for the pictures. I was being tongue-in-cheek in my comments, but I do find all the garage and underground tracks very interesting. To me they are the next step in growing the HO scene here, and I am near enough to a few to take part, which is a bonus.

I think these 'home tracks plus' are perfect for those that want more racing, and work better for that than the attempts to shoehorn in more Sunday races.

Talking of those, there is usually one in August, the other month with no national race or 24hr, but I can't find any mention this year?

 

[asjwood]

QUOTE (Gareth @ 20 Jul 2012, 23:24) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Loving the track Al. I now know I definitely want chequered flag material covering my new table legs when we get moved. Have you been enjoying have a permanent track to play on? I know you are juggling a ton of things at the moment!!

Yeah I think the chequered flags really finish it off nicely and allow you to store lots beneath the track without it looking cluttered. Also they were were pretty cheap. Looks like you're going to have a great space Gareth, I shall look forward to seeing what you do with it!

Yeah I have been really enjoying it although I haven't much time to spend out there lately. I think it will really come in to it's own for small race meets though.

 

[sealevel]

Well, there we go again... another excellent layout to send us back to the drawing board again.

Kudos to you on the excellent design and execution.

It gives hope to other small garage owners.... like me!

Cheers!